By launching the network, founders Claire Bibby and Lara Wentworth (both based in Australia), Katie Gray (based in New Zealand) and Frieda Levycky (based in South Africa) – all of whom have extensive senior experience as lawyers and are now internationally qualified coaches – intend to revolutionise the legal profession’s approach to wellbeing, linking it inextricably to performance, improve team and individual productivity, and make the practice of law more cost-effective.

The network is launching with 12 lawyers-turned-coaches, including the four founders, who will service the following countries from the outset: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, the UK, Singapore and the US.

Coaching for the legal profession has traditionally been viewed, the quartet believe, as an individual pursuit, or one that was just for those in senior roles. The effectiveness of coaching, they said, must be elevated to a much broader level.

If individuals and teams (both in private practice and in-house) can be coached to work together more effectively, they argued, behaviours that contribute to workplace issues, especially poor wellness, can be challenged and redesigned.

At some stage in their legal careers, Ms Gray (pictured, second from right) mused, “many lawyers feel broken”.

“The cold, hard facts show that people with burnout are more likely to take sick days and to be searching for a new job. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the problem, but the positive news is that burnout can be combated through transformational leadership via coaching,” she submitted.

Wellbeing is the “prerequisite and foundation” for high-performance, Ms Wentworth (pictured, second from left) added.

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“The legal profession is entrenched in outdated and misguided beliefs that highly values overworking and stress as the markers of success as a lawyer, and undervalues or even disregards our state of mind,” she posited.

“We fight a losing battle when we focus on strategies and tools to improve our performance, while neglecting the key ingredient. It’s almost like being an athlete who is expected to win races, without focusing on their physical health.”

Such wellness considerations have a huge impact upon productivity, which will naturally increase with effective coaching, Ms Bibby (pictured, far left) surmised.

“Many in-house and private practice lawyers are constantly in firefighting mode,” she noted.

“They feel forced to practice law in a way that is largely reactionary, often with access to little or no time or resources to work smarter, instead of harder. There’s no need to continue doing so, when lawyers-turned coaches who have ‘been there, done that’ can coach them on ways to achieve sustainable change, both personally and professionally.”

Moreover, Ms Levycky (pictured, far right) added, if the wellbeing of a team is under control, there are direct, flow-on benefits for the bottom line.

“Your lawyers are your greatest asset,” she proclaimed.

“A healthy workforce is more productive, more effective, more engaged, less stressed and more resourceful. Well-established research shows that investing in the wellbeing of your staff is not a cost to the organisation.”

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